Several of these incidents I had not known about. It is nice to read about the players' concern for fans' safety.

BASEBALL

"Foul balls are a scary part of baseball"

Foul balls and fans can sometimes be a bad combination. Players say that hitting, and sometimes seriously injuring, a spectator with a foul ball is a memory they don't soon forget.

By Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 17, 2008

It happened more than 38 years ago, yet Manny Mota still can't bring himself to talk about it.

"It's very difficult," the Dodgers coach and former All-Star outfielder said. "It brings up bad memories."

"It" was a foul ball Mota lined into the seats down the first base line at Dodger Stadium during the third inning of an otherwise uneventful mid-May game against the San Francisco Giants in 1970. But what made this foul ball different from the thousands of others Mota hit into the stands during his 20-year big league career was that it hit a 14-year-old boy in the head, just above his left ear.

Five days later, the boy was dead.

"I felt guilty because I hit the foul ball," Mota said quietly in Spanish. "And a young boy lost his life."

It's an occupational hazard all players share, because dozens of balls are hit into the stands at every major and minor league game. Sometimes thrown balls and bats wind up there too. Most of the time they bounce off seats and someone winds up with a souvenir.

Other times they don't and someone winds up with a painful bruise or a broken bone. Or worse.

In April, Susan Rhodes of Sherman Oaks, sitting four rows behind the first base dugout at Dodger Stadium, suffered a concussion and facial injuries when a wooden bat swung by Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies shattered, sending part of it into the stands. And last summer, first base coach Mike Coolbaugh of the Double-A Tulsa Drillers was killed when he was hit in the head by a foul ball during a game.

Eventually, the games went on -- but it was never quite the same for everyone involved.

"Every player, I don't care how mean he is, if he hits a foul ball in the stands and somebody gets hit, they feel bad," Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent said. "When they get back in the batter's box, I pretty much guarantee you that they're not all 100% like they were before that pitch."

That can disrupt an at-bat, a season, even a career.

Kent's teammate Mark Sweeney was playing in the Cape Cod summer league when he hit a check-swing foul ball into the seats near the plate, hitting a woman in the arm.

"I'll never forget it. She was wailing and screaming," said Sweeney, who was ordered back in the batter's box, where he feebly struck out. "It comes down to you don't want anybody getting hurt. You're a human being and you feel bad about that.

"That's a hard thing to get over."

At least 300 people each year are injured seriously enough by foul balls at professional baseball games that they require hospitalization, estimates Gil Fried, a lawyer and specialist in sports facility risk management at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. But an exhaustive study by authors Bob Gorman and David Weeks found that only two people -- the boy Mota hit and a 68-year-old man attending a minor league game in Miami in 1960 -- have been killed by foul balls at a professional baseball game.

And the courts have repeatedly held that neither the teams nor the players are responsible for the injuries thanks, in part, to the 145-word warning printed on the back of each ticket that says the fans assume "the danger of being injured by thrown bats, fragments thereof, and thrown or batted balls."

A Massachusetts state court, ruling in the case of a woman who ran up nearly $500,000 in medical bills after being struck in the face by a foul ball at Boston's Fenway Park, held that a person of "ordinary intelligence" may be assumed to know that "batters will forcefully hit balls that may go astray." And more recently the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed the arguments of a woman who sued owners of the minor league Dodgers affiliate Las Vegas 51s after she suffered facial injuries in a foul-ball accident.

That does little to assuage the players, however.

"We do care," the Angels' Torii Hunter said. "You still think about it at night, wondering how that kid is doing or how that man is doing that I hit. You feel sorry about it."

Adds Angels broadcaster Rex Hudler, who played 13 seasons in the major leagues: "You don't forget things like that. That's kind of like the worst thing that can happen at a ballgame."

As a boy attending his first big league game at San Francisco's Candlestick Park, Hudler was standing near a girl who was hit in the head by a Willie McCovey line drive. He still carries that image with him.

"Forty-seven years old and I still remember it," he said. "It was an ugly memory to keep."

Which is why Hudler, who also played a season in Japan, wishes American baseball would adopt a Japanese custom and install protective screens down the foul lines as well as behind home plate.

"It kept people from getting their faces smashed and all that," he said. "I felt like the fans were more protected. It worked well."

Yet, few current players believe that will ever happen in the U.S., given the trend in ballpark construction to move seats closer to the action and the desire of spectators and owners alike to make the players more accessible.

The New York Mets' Damion Easley, the father of four children, doesn't look when he lines a ball into the stands. If he hit someone else's kid, he says, he'd just as soon not know.

"When you're on the field for 162 of them, you're going to see it," he said. "You see people get hit every day. They're oblivious to the whole thing. They're not even paying attention. And they got smoked all the time.

"I just try to look away as soon as possible so it doesn't affect my at-bat."

For those who don't turn away in time, what they see can weigh on them.

When former Dodgers catcher Toby Hall was playing for Tampa Bay, he went into a mid-May series in Kansas City batting .326, having struck out only four times in April. But after hitting a 9-year-old boy with a foul ball in his second at-bat against the Royals, Hall struck out -- and fanned three more times over the next two days.

He hit only .224 over the next six weeks and didn't recover until after the mid-July All-Star break.

Mota went through a similar funk. Before that Saturday game against the Giants, he was batting .339. Five days later, he was batting .310 and was so distraught he was benched.

Kent says many players will quietly send an usher or clubhouse attendant to check on the person who was hit, while others will make the visit personally.

The Rays' Carl Crawford, who hit a spectator in the head during a spring-training game, gave the man a bat and still visits with him from time to time. Hunter gives away bats and signed baseballs and Hudler gave wristbands and batting gloves to people he hit.

Former Boston Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice once jumped into the stands along the first base line at Fenway Park to scoop up a bloodied 4-year-old who had been struck by a line drive, then rushed the boy into the trainer's room. Doctors credited Rice's quick thinking with saving the child's life.

"You know the fans are vulnerable. These people that are coming to watch the game, they're not trained to get out of the way of a ball," Sweeney said.

"If something happens there's nothing you can do about that situation. But you can handle yourself [afterward] in a manner that you should."

Mota's son, Jose, also a former major leaguer who now works for the Angels, once hit a foul so hard that the stitching on the ball left an imprint in a woman's forehead.

"I used to go check on her the rest of the season," he said. "I told her I was sorry and she said 'What are you supposed to do?' "

The family of the boy Manny Mota hit was not so forgiving. Jose was 5 when that happened but says one of his earliest memories is of his panicked father rushing to the hospital, only to be barred from entering the boy's room.

"He rarely talked of the incident after that," Jose Mota said.

But he never forgot about it.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com_________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Well, I guess technically this did not happen while I was gone out of the country, but the day after I returned (so my mind was still gone) and I didn't read about it until a couple of days ago.

Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly fouled off a ball that hit a youngster in the stands during Chicago's game vs. Cincinnati at Wrigley Field on July 10, and the child was hospitalized as a result. According to cubs.com, "Dominic DiAngi was taken to Children's Memorial Hospital in serious condition with a fractured skull and swelling around his brain."

Anyway, six days later he was released, and last Saturday the kid not only celebrated his eighth birthday, but was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Wrigley Field before the Cubs-Marlins game.

From cubs.com:

Quote:

Lilly and teammate Derrek Lee had visited Dominic in the hospital after the incident.

_________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Here's one most of us probably did not hear about because it took place at a minor league game. Last September, Luke Holko (now four years old) was hit by a foul ball while sitting with his parents in the front row of a Class A game in Mahoning Valley, (Niles, OH), resulting in destroyed tissue in his brain. The Scrappers are an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.

This week, several Indians players visited Luke and his family at Akron Children's Hospital, where the boy is still re-learning how to walk and talk. Luke's parents say the baseball community has been overwhelmingly supportive of them since the accident four months ago.

And according to the linked article from MLB.com:

Quote:

When the rehab is over, when he regains the strength and capacity to walk without any assistance and to speak each and every word in his vocabulary, and when he finally gets back to being a kid again, 4-year-old Luke Holko has a wish.

He wants to go back to a baseball game.

..."Luke wants to go back," (his mother) said. "His only comment is that we have to sit way, way, way up high."

_________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Aw the poor kid, that is so sweet! I hope he does get to go back soon! Bless his parents and the Indians organization. Do we have someone on this board from Ohio, I thought? Did you go to any of these events they had? BTW I just read back on this whole thread which was from before my time here.

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Glad she is okay..._________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Also, taking on a more serious tone, thankfully the little three-year old girl who was hit during BP at Dodger Stadium last Monday is doing well following surgery. A fractured skull is pretty scary! Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, whose line drive struck the child, says he will visit her when the time is right._________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

"When that ball went over the dugout, I almost didn't even want to look up there. I knew that was where they were sitting and I figured my mom wouldn't be paying attention. So, we dodged a bullet. My brother's thumb is black and blue. That's no big deal, compared to what it could have been."

_________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

This really shows what kind of person Greg Dobbs is: After a foul ball off his bat hit a 12 year old boy in the face during a game at Citifield two nights ago, the Marlins third baseman has taken time to show the boy and his family that he cares, visiting him in the hospital yesterday and sending gift items.

From MLB.com:

Quote:

Since the incident, Dobbs has reached out to (Eli) Shalomoff and his family. Shalomoff sustained a fractured nose, a fractured sinus as well as a concussion. Eight stitches were needed to close the gash.

After Game 2 of Monday's twin bill, Dobbs had a bat sent to Shalomoff. He also established contact with the boy's mother, and had a conversation after the Marlins were swept in two games by the Mets.

Dobbs asked if he could visit Shalomoff in the hospital, which he did on Tuesday.

"For the kid's sake, I wanted to show him my face and show him I care," Dobbs said.

After meeting with the family and the doctors, Dobbs said Shalomoff's vision is fine, and he was expected to be released from the hospital on Tuesday.

"They said the body will heal itself," Dobbs said. "It will take it all, and he will be OK. I just wanted to show him that I care."

A father of two small children, Dobbs is deeply touched by the accident. He also cautions on the dangers of fans at a ballgame.

"It's not a petting zoo," Dobbs said.

Also on Monday, New York's Justin Turner lost control of his bat on a swing, and it sailed into the stands. Fortunately, it didn't strike a fan.

Best wishes to Eli on his recovery._________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Judith Reese was celebrating her 69th birthday at Coors Field last weekend when she was struck on the right side of her head with a foul ball from Rockies right fielder Michael Cuddyer. Reese was sitting along the third base line when the liner hit her in the fourth inning.

From MLB.com:

Quote:

Reese was sitting along the third-base line when Cuddyer's liner hit her during the fourth inning. The game was delayed between the fourth and fifth innings as Reese was placed on a back brace, lowered to the field and taken away in a cart.

...(She) was treated for a concussion and a bruise at a local hospital, and released.

...Cuddyer, in his first home game with the Rockies, was shaken after the game, and did not have an immediate report on Reese's condition.

At least she's okay, but it's not the best way to spend your birthday...especially when your team ends up losing, 7-0. _________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

I'm glad she's okay!!! Not a great birthday - between that and her team losing _________________"If you had a son it would be a great thing for him to grow up to be just like Gil Hodges" -Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn Dodgers)

It's been a couple of years since this thread was posted in, too. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to the little boy hit by a foul ball--attending his first major league game, no less--during a Braves-Brewers contest in Atlanta last week, requiring hospitalization. Several players visited and showed concern for him, as described in this article on MLB.com.

From the above-linked:

Quote:

Having received tickets from a friend, the boy's father brought his son to his first Major League game and provided him the treat of sitting approximately four rows above the Braves first-base side dugout. Unfortunately, these prime seats put the child directly in line to be drilled by the foul ball (Brewers OFer Carlos) Gomez lined into the stands during the seventh inning.

"I heard it hit something," (Braves third baseman Chris) Johnson said. "Then I saw his dad immediately grab him and take off. That's when you knew, especially with the sound it made. It sounded like it hit two barrels -- off Gomez's barrel and then off another one. It's scary stuff, I'm just glad he's all right."

A father of two, Gomez said he had trouble sleeping until around 5 a.m. ET on Wednesday. After getting a few hours of sleep, the Brewers outfielder gained some relief when he visited the boy in his hospital room.

"The important [thing] for me is to have the opportunity to talk to him and see him and stay with him for [about 30 minutes]," Gomez said. "He was really happy."

While Gomez was able to interact, the boy was sleeping when (Braves catcher Gerald) Laird and Johnson arrived at the hospital around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The two Braves players could still see blood around the boy's left ear as doctors ran tests.

But by Wednesday morning, Johnson and Laird were informed that the boy had awoke to the thrill of finding the various autographed items they had brought to the hospital. Each of the Braves players signed a bat, and Laird left one of his autographed catcher's mitts.

"Sometimes, there's more to the game than just playing the game," Laird said. "You want to make sure everything is OK. We just wanted to go over there, make sure he was all right and let the family know we were thinking about them."

(Braves pitcher Julio) Teheran had planned to send his mother the ball with which he recorded the final out of Tuesday's shutout. But he has instead decided he will give it to the injured boy.

_________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Yes I heard about this too. Poor kid! Hope he is OK now._________________"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

Somehow when I posted about the foul ball injury at Fenway Park last month, I misplaced it, but now that there has been a second incident in nearly the same section of the same ballpark, last night--what's going on in Boston?--I located this thread again. This follows the previous foul ball injury by about five weeks.

From MLB.com:

Quote:

While facing Boston reliever Robbie Ross in the fifth inning, Yanks shortstop Didi Gregorius fouled off an 0-2 pitch that flew into the third-base side box seats and appeared to strike the fan in the forehead area. Park employees and medical personnel quickly applied first aid to the unidentified woman, who was bleeding.

After a few minutes, the fan was able to stand up and walk away under her own power while keeping an ice compress held against her forehead.

...After grounding out to the shortstop, Gregorius handed his bat over the Yankees' dugout, and it was passed back to the fans seated with the woman.

...The hurt woman was treated and released from the hospital on Saturday.

_________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

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My gosh, there is a lot going on wrong at Fenway Park this season. Hope there are no others!_________________"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

The unidentified woman was sitting just behind the Tigers' dugout when an Anthony Gose foul ball came in on a line and struck her on the right side of her head. Nearby fans and stadium security immediately called for EMS personnel as security asked for extra towels from clubhouse assistants in the Tigers dugout.

Play stopped for about seven minutes as players and coaches watched paramedics attend to the woman, who remained down for several minutes but reportedly never lost consciousness.

"The ballgame got put into perspective for us," Rangers manager Jeff Bannister said. "I really hope that the lady that got struck is all right. We'll pray for her."

The woman was applauded by nearby fans as she sat up and was seated upright on the stretcher, her neck in a brace, as personnel carried her up the steps and out of the park. She was transported to DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital, where she was being evaluated as of late Friday night. A Tigers official said the team will follow up with the family Saturday morning to check in and get an update.

Not sure what the update is, five days after the fact._________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Admittedly, this is one of those "catch up" posts from a couple of weeks ago: Commissioner Rob Manfred has said that more safety netting in foul territory is a topic of discussion in Major League Baseball._________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Teams will be encouraged to add netting, or some sort of protective barrier, to shield fans from balls and bats that sometimes go into the stands in all field-level seats between the near ends of both dugouts and within 70 feet of home plate.

"Major League Baseball prides itself on providing fans in our ballparks with unparalleled proximity and access to our players and the game taking place on the field," Commissioner Rob Manfred said. "At the same time, it is important that fans have the option to sit behind protective netting or in other areas of the ballpark where foul balls and bats are less likely to enter.

...One of the challenges of implementing the recommendations is that each ballpark has a unique configuration. So the Commissioner's Office has retained a consultant specializing in stadium architecture and protective netting to assist interested clubs.

Teams will also be asked to continue to educate fans about the dangers of objects flying into the stands and the importance of remaining alert. The Commissioner's Office will also be working with the clubs and online ticket sellers to identify ways to provide customers with additional information at the point of sale about which seats are, and are not, behind netting.

_________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Interesting reading back on all the articles/comments here over the years!

Now, many teams are addressing the issue by expanding their netting._________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

Since the last time I posted in this thread, the Angels and Dodgers have agreed to extend their nettings._________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

This is the third recorded instance of a fan dying after being struck by a ball leaving the field of play. Clarence Stagemyer, 32, died after being hit by a thrown ball at Griffith Stadium in Washington in 1943. Alan Fish, 14, died after being hit by a foul ball at Dodger Stadium in 1970.

How eerie that two of the three recorded deaths took place at Dodger Stadium. The other incident is described in more detail in the very first post in this thread, which I wrote about 11 years ago!

May our sister in blue rest in peace.

The L.A. Times account of the incident reads as follows:

"Fan was Killed by Foul Ball Last August at Dodger Stadium"

By JORGE CASTILLO
FEB 05, 2019 | 3:00 PM

A woman struck by a foul ball at Dodger Stadium last August died four days later as the result of bleeding in her brain, according to a Los Angeles County coroner’s report.

Linda Goldbloom, 79, died on the morning of Aug. 29 as a result of “acute intracranial hemorrhage” due to “history of blunt force trauma,” the report said. The incident occurred Aug. 25 at approximately 8:40 p.m., during a game against the San Diego Padres.

Goldbloom “began to experience left-sided weakness,” the report said, after she was hit in the head by the ball. She was transported to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in an ambulance. She underwent surgery but never opened her eyes in the hospital and breathed using a ventilator, a family member told ESPN, which first reported the accident Monday, five months after it happened.

The Dodgers did not address Goldbloom’s death publicly until this week.
Reached for comment Tuesday, a Dodgers spokesperson referred to the statement previously given to ESPN.com: "Mr. and Mrs. Goldbloom were great Dodgers fans who regularly attended games. We were deeply saddened by this tragic accident and the passing of Mrs. Goldbloom. The matter has been resolved between the Dodgers and the Goldbloom family. We cannot comment further on this matter.”

The Dodgers released another statement Tuesday. “The Dodgers generally do not make public reports of accidents that take place at Dodger Stadium. We avoid doing so out of respect for the privacy of the persons involved in the accidents and their families. However, nothing prevents such persons or their families from making such information public at the time of the accident.”

A spokesman for the coroner’s office noted that the autopsy report was completed Sept. 2 and available to the news media upon request the next day.

Goldbloom was struck while seated in the loge level of the stadium, just to the first base side of home plate in an area not protected by netting. Her death is the second reported instance of a fan dying after getting hit by a ball at Dodger Stadium, the other occurring in 1970. Fans dying from batted-ball incidents at ballparks have been rare across the majors over the decades, but recent scares motivated all 30 teams to extend protective netting on the first level down the baselines starting last season after Major League Baseball recommended the measure.

However, seats above the lower bowls remained exposed. A Dodgers spokesperson declined to comment when asked if the team plans to add more netting for the upcoming season._________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."

-Baseball Hall of Fame

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Whoa. That really is a scary thought and very sad to think of someone dying from a ball hit into the stands and especially at that age. Franmil Reyes probably feels bad, too._________________"Baseball is an allegorical play about America, a poetic, complex, and subtle play of courage, fear, good luck, mistakes, patience about fate, and sober self-esteem." - Saul Steinberg

"Out of respect" doesn't say much for me. I understand not reporting "injuries", but deaths at a major league stadium, particularly having to do with something from the field of play? Maybe you wouldn't publicize it if a fan suffered a heart attack and died, entirely unrelated to the game. But in my opinion, this should have been publicized last August.

The daughter of the 79-year-old woman who died last year after being hit in the head by a foul ball at Dodger Stadium said Wednesday she wants to see better protective netting at major league ballparks.

“I would love to see higher nets,” Jana Brody told the New York Times on Tuesday, the day after the news broke that her mother, Linda Goldbloom, died on Aug. 29 as a result of bleeding in the brain after being struck by a foul ball during the Dodgers’ game against the San Diego Padres four days earlier.

The Dodgers were among the major league teams that extended the width of the protective netting behind home plate last season, stretching from the end of one dugout to the end of the other.

She added: “You can see right through the nets, so what’s the big deal? I can’t understand why it took so long for them to even widen it.”

The Dodgers website lists several sections on the dugout club and field levels that have netting or screening in front of them, but adds that “the height and coverage of netting or screening will vary by section” and “fans in these sections are still exposed to objects leaving the field of play, including bats and bat fragments, and thrown or batted balls.”

Goldbloom was seated in the loge level — one level above the field level — just to the first base side of home plate.

“The trajectory of the ball can only get hit so far until it starts to arc and come down and then be a more manageable ball to catch or whatever,” said Brody, who was not at the game with her mother that night. “But where she was sitting, there was no chance for it to lob over. It was a straight shot.”_________________"The Dodgers have always occupied an enormous place in the history of the game. If the Yankees are the most successful team in baseball history, the Dodgers are the most essential. Their legacy is unique."